Podcast episodes
Season 1
135: The Black People's Day of Action (1981)
The Black People's Day of Action (1981) was a direct response to the New Cross Massacre that led to the deaths of 14 young Black people in New Cross, South London, 1981. This week I am thinking about the mobilisations and uprising of people we are currently witnessing across University campuses and in wider society... the response to a people that do not feel heard or seen. I will be contextualising these thoughts in the wider history of protest in Britain, thinking about the Black People's Day of Action as a response to the state's silence on the trauma of the fire.
134: Academic Life, PhDs and Jamaican Women ft. Alexandria Miller
This week's episode features the brilliant Alexandria Miller who is a historian, writer, and multimedia documentarian who is passionate about capturing Caribbean stories. This episode we talk about our academic journeys, doing a PhD and some of the differences in studying Caribbean history for a US vs UK perspective. We discuss Alexandria's work on Jamaican women and her motivations for researching a community so close to home. You can find out more about Alexandria's work on her podcast Strictly Facts: A Guide to Caribbean History and Culture and follow us for more here.
132: Vybz Kartel and the Privy Council
On Thursday 14th March, in a landmark decision the UK’s privy council overturned the murder conviction of the Jamaican dancehall artist Vybz Kartel, impacting also the ruling on his three co-defendants: Shawn Campbell, Kahira Jones and Andre St John. It was overturned due to findings that the original conviction was compromised due to juror misconduct, during the 2014 trial. Vybz Kartel at this point has been in prison since 2011 was convicted of the murder of Clive “Lizard” Williams in one of Jamaica’s longest trials. Find out more about the Privy Council rulings and why Jamaica's highest arm of justice is the UK's Privy Council and not the Caribbean Court of Justice. Find us here
131: Bob Marley One Love, An Additional History
An episode based on my undergraduate dissertation that was all about political and religious influences of reggae music in the 1970s, which coincidentally talks us through some of things I wish the Bob Marley: One Love film did not give enough time to. This episodes explores the political context in 1970s Jamaica as well as the Rastafarian movement and the influences of these on reggae music as the mouthpiece for the oppressed.